Kanto: Spirits Still Soaring
by The Jaye Benjamin
Summary: A deep intake of air filled Annalyn’s lungs as she took the few steps towards the head of her bed and placed the note on the plush, pink pillow. This was it, the end of her miserable life with her miserable family. // I'll take an OC or two, if you like!
1. Etiquette?

**I obviously do not own Pokémon because I unfortunately did not have an awesomeness capacity to think it up, otherwise…**

**Anyway, this story and most of its characters are mine. **

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'_Mother, Father and sisters,'_

Her pen stopped there. Lifting it to her mouth, where her front teeth attacked her lower lip, the girl inhaled, eyes closed. How was she to word this? How was she supposed to tell her family that they ruined her life? It was fairly obvious, even to the densest of people, that cramming unnecessary etiquette into a rebellious child's mind was almost an impossible feat. _Her _parents must have been even denser, then. Either that, or completely blinded by their total lack of acknowledgement for their daughter's infatuation for pokémon. Back straight, legs together – they all were only appropriate for one thing: her parent's desire for her to become the successor for their business, governing an enormously successful chain of fancy hotels in fancy cities with fancy rooms occupied by fancy people who were too fancy to even care about the true purpose of their fancy, dolled-up pokémon.

These people sickened Annalyn.

Pokémon were never to be used as show ponies, brought out to make their master look better and then thrown back into an ugly, almost unhealthily prissy room and only fed a few times a day before the next garden party. Or pokémon, who were over-cared for, covered in pretty little dresses and suits (that looked hideous, anyway) and fed in such absurd amounts that they'd grown overweight and die at a young age. Pokémon were _meant_ to be kept as friends, not tools for popularity or world domination. They were meant as companions for those who have lost others. Behaviours, feelings, flesh and blood. Physical and mental characteristics that made up humans – pokémon had them, too! In Annalyn's eyes, those who abused their pokémon's abilities deserved a mouthful and a half.

Annalyn's parents? They were never at all interested in pokémon. In actual fact, there was a distinct dislike towards all kinds of pokémon, large or small, weak or strong, rough or sleek – her parents could not take the presence of any. Just imagine _ten_ years of this. Ten years of snide remarks to your passion, usually premeditated and used in proper spite towards a disobedient daughter. In all honesty, Annalyn had every reason to hate her parents. She had every reason to hate them, disobey them, and eventually leave them with only six daughters of their ideal seven.

And so she wrote this letter, with the literary height of one preparing to graduate High School, at least showing that there was one thing she'd taken in from her parents, which was courtesy. As much as a lady she was not, she had to leave them with at least one thing to be proud of, and if that was to be her grammar and vocabulary, then so be it. No matter what, Anna would never give up her dream of being a trainer.

'_I have left this for you in memory of me. I do no know when you will ever see me again; however, I can assure you it will not be soon. I am not sorry for leaving you, as it is your selfish influence that has led me to do so. So with this letter, I say goodbye and wish your lives to become as fulfilled as I know mine will be._

'_In as much respect as possible (which is not a lot),_

'_Goodbye.'_

The mistake of attempting to crush Annalyn's ambitions was all that drove her at this moment. With a swift movement, her right hand dropped the pen and picked up the letter. After a neat fold was made, there was a new, blank space to be occupied by Annalyn's tidy-for-a-ten-year-old scrawl. The words _'spirits still soaring'_ were quickly scratched down as the girl stood from her desk and turned to her neatly-made bed. A deep intake of air filled the girl's lungs as she took the few steps towards the head of her bed and placed the note on the plush, pink pillow.

This was it, the end of her miserable life with her miserable family.

Crossing to her armoire, she grabbed her bag, which she swung over her shoulder, and opened the cupboard door. Reflected in the mirror on the inside of the closet door was a young girl of average size. A slender body was complimented by her pale pink corset-like top, where the ribbon at her back came to a large bow near the small. At her waist was a white belt, studded with small metal crosses, which held up a small, black skirt that reached half-way down her thigh. From there to the top of her knee were fishnet leggings, and on her feet were some coloured sneakers, their laces loosely tied, yet firm enough to last a long walk. Framing her bright green eyes was a large blonde fringe which was cut just to stay out of her eyes. The rest of her hair was tied back by means of another ribbon into a long, thick ponytail which hung over one shoulder. Around her neck were two necklaces, one extending into her lack of bust and the other almost choking her. From each hung a small charm, one a minute pokéball that her mother and father absolutely despised, and on the longer necklace, a small, winged key she had found once at school. On her left wrist, a silver watch was wrapped, and on her right was yet another ribbon tied into a bow.

A smile. A flashing of brilliant white teeth. Something this pure had remained unseen for years, and was plastered across Annalyn's face. Needless to say, she was exceptionally eager. Finally, she was going to leave home and become what she had always wanted, a pokémon trainer. Maybe even master one day, Mew knew. The point was, that today, she was no longer bonded to her own family. She was now legally able to leave home and begin an adventure with a pokémon of her choosing. That's if she got to the laboratory in time.

With this thought clinging to her consciousness, she crept out of her bedroom and through her front door in absolute, or as close as she can get to, silence. A brief click and the door locked itself. Annalyn turned to face the street, inhaling the crisp morning atmosphere as she stared at the mountainous horizon. The heavens were opening up and light from the sun began spreading itself like some kind of untouchable butter.

Pallet Town wasn't too far from Viridian City. Only a short walk along Route 1 and she'd be there. It's just the wild pokémon she'd have to watch out for and she could just find another trainer from the city to help her get there… shouldn't be that hard.

She began at a quick jog, rushing south towards the small township with the large, white laboratory. It was fairly easy to see from where she was – right on the border of Viridian and Route 1. Taking another step could have seen her attacked from all directions by Rattata and Pidgey - the usual pokémon found around here, so she stood for a few moments, gaining as much confidence as possible. As she had not come across a trainer as of yet, she could not defend herself. So, with a sharp intake of breath, she closed her eyes, lifted her right foot, extended it and –

"Wait! Don't take that step!" a young male voice echoed through the fields. Eyes snapping open, Annalyn noticed a boy rushing towards her from a small fence along the side of the route. He wore a folded, red bandana around his messy, black hair and a black vest over his slightly muscular (for his age) chest frame. His jeans seemed tattered and his black sneakers were worn, like he had been travelling for days; however his overall look of a ten-year-old told her he was a rookie. Anna's brows came together.

"Are you trying to get to Pallet Town?" he questioned, the side of his mouth curving. Anna nodded, slightly humiliated. "Without protection?" He followed up.

Annalyn nodded once again, very slowly, and quietly muttered, "uh, yeah…"

"I'm just coming from there. As soon as I stock up on pokéballs, I'll help you get there?" A third nod. He seemed really nice and she didn't even have to ask! Score! "Great. You wanna come with me to the Mart?"

"Sure, I guess - saves me waiting here." Anna agreed, turning around and facing the closest PokéMart stocked with pokéballs. She began walking much slower, now, to let the boy catch up. When he did, he smiled.

"My name's Kaiden, by the way." He tucked the hair falling out from under his bandanna to the side as he spoke. The mart was not that far away, so they really could only introduce themselves before his purchase. Anna introduced herself as they entered the building, the electronic, blue glass door buzzing shut behind them.

A fairly young and attractive man stood at the counter, polishing what looked like a new stock of pokéballs. As Kaiden made his way to the keeper, Annalyn wandered off towards the shelves to see what they had in stock and if she'd need anything. Well first thing was first, she needed money, so looking at these items wasn't the best thing to be doing right now. If it wasn't for her disgust towards her parents, she would have simply taken a few thousand from them, but no. She was much too 'I-must-prove-my-point' to give them the satisfaction of thinking she couldn't make it without a little of their help. So before she could even catch a new pokémon of her own, she had to win a battle or two with other trainers for money. Hopefully her starter pokémon would be able to fair against something... a little more experienced.

She dawdled back to Kaiden, who was conversing casually with the keeper.

"… helping the girl I came in with get there, why?" Kaiden questioned, his head tilting very slightly.

"I have a package for the Professor, you wouldn't mind…?" The young man stabbed his thumb into the air between his neck and his shoulder as he spoke, eyes showing a slight glint of hope. Kaiden grinned.

* * *

The trip from Viridian City to Pallet Town was, as expected, humbly short. The faster she got to Pallet, the faster she started her journey, thus the entire way she was set at a pace that kept her at least ten metres in front of Kaiden. At numerous points along the way, a rattata or pidgey would appear, but no battles were fought and at various points a rookie trainer would run past, which irked Anna slightly. What was it, become-a-trainer-day?

Most probably, as when she came to the white laboratory, yet another trainer came bursting out. This time the trainer was not alone. A small, yellow mouse-like pokémon with a lightning-bolt tail chasing behind him as he ran, backpack jumping from one side to the other with is movements, north towards the town they came. A more elderly man waved from inside as the boy continued onto the route and turned to the two newcomers.

"…Kaiden! Back so soon," the man stated, rather than questioned. "If you needed a map, my daughter would have been willing to oblige."

"Sorry, Professor…" Kaiden smiled as Anna's eyelids spread from each other. So this was the famous Professor Oak. "This is more of an escort mission. Annalyn here wants to start her own journey, and thought you would be the best to start her off, so --"

"Oh, no," Professor Oak seemingly mourned. This didn't seem like a good sign, and Annalyn knew it. Her hopeful face took a u-turn and turned into not-so-excited. She already knew what he was going to say. "I don't have any more pokémon left!" She knew it. Damn. "Not any proper starters, anyway, like bulbasaur, charmander or squirtle."

"That doesn't matter!" Annalyn butted in, her voice squeaked with new hope. "I'll take anything!" This was a true statement. She wanted nothing more than a reason not to go back to that mansion and be seen as a failure, especially at something she loved and her parents disapproved.

Professor Oak sighed and moved aside, allowing the two to enter, saying though his sigh, "Okay, then."

The first room was fairly large. The walls were a dull blue, with steel plating and a large metal box with flashing lights, screens and buttons dotted on them here and there. There were numerous desks in between these machines, each hosting a computer, stationery and files. In the centre of a room was a large healing machine. They did not spend long in here, though, as Oak led them through a few other rooms, including a room lined with book shelves where some of the Professor's students were studying, a room with a funny, dome-shaped device where three empty pokéballs were held, and the room they stopped in, which contained a single desk, a funny machine which Anna couldn't guess its function and many shelves containing pokéballs.

"If you're that persistent, then I guess I could find something for you." Professor Oak's eyes scanned the shelves as he spoke. However, in such overwhelming eagerness, Anna jogged straight to the shelf and picked up the first pokéball she saw.

"What's this one?" She asked in her frenzy of anticipation and pushed the little white button along the centre line.

"No, wai --" the professor called, holding a middle-aged hand out, eyes wide.

Too late. A flash of light and before her, a large, red fish flopped stupidly around the room. Anna threw the ball over her shoulder and took another.

"Oh, I didn't like that one very much… how about this!"

Another flash of light signalled the entrance of another ugly, red fish.

"Ew, ew, ew. Third time lucky!" – Another flash, another fish – "No? Ugh. Fourth time? Ack!" – Again, another fish – "Maybe…"

This continued for a while, Anna's panic increasing with every fish, until the floor was almost carpeted with red scales.

"Anna, stop!" called Kaiden, grabbing the next pokéball out of her hands and replacing it on the shelf. He pointed to the wall next to the shelf. Anna flicked her head into the direction he was pointing and felt her jaw lower as her cheeks flushed. On the wall was a sign saying:

_Left: Magikarp_

_Right: Magikarp_

"Those entire two are filled with magikarp – you won't find anything else there." The professor was now returning each fish into their respective pokéballs. "If you're looking for something else, try another shelf. Like that one over there." He waved his left hand over his shoulder as she spoke, another flash illuminating the area around him as he returned another magikarp. "It holds pokémon much more suitable."

Mouth forming a small 'o', the young trainer-to-be waded through the fish in the direction the professor waved, landing in front of one of the largest set of shelves and read the sign next to it. It simply showed a variety of symbols, like green leaves, purple eyes and brown fists – whatever they meant. At least she knew there was a slim chance she'd find another magikarp here. With that notion, she once again took the first ball she set sight on and grabbed it.

"Mine."

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**So what do you think? Please review, constructive criticism is loved.**

**My first fic… kind-of… I've got a few more; I've just never posted them up, and don't plan to, because they're terrible.**


	2. Fabulous

**Thanks for the feedback, guys. I really needed it!**

**Uh, I guess I should repeat what I wrote in reply to Thorndrop.**

**I saw how she was so mature after I wrote the story. In fact, there were so many more words in that letter that I barely knew, but I decided today that instead of changing it all, I'd keep it that way and use it as a way of showing you that no matter how much she hated it, she still did it. Maybe to get into her parents' good books so they could let her go? That's for you to decide. Towards the end of the chapter, though, her personality becomes more suitable, as if she's saying "finally, I'm out of that hell-hole, I can act like a normal human being".**

**Get it…? Haha.**

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"Uhh…"

Wide, white eyes stared blankly from a tilted, pink head back at Anna as she tried to remember the name of this pokémon. The pokémon hovered idly at eye level. It sort-of looked like some kind of duck. A pink and blue duck with a pointy, blue tail. It seemed slightly pixelated, as if it had just emerged from a computer game. Overall, it looked…

"_Cute!_" Anna squealed, flourishing and squirming in an awkward fashion. "I'll take it!"

"… Wicked," Kaiden said, eyeing the pokémon and reaching into his pocket. "Let's see…" He then drew a palm-sized, red object, flipped it open and sort of scanned the pokémon. Annalyn turned to give him and his contraption a puzzled look as he read the little words that appeared on the screen inside. "It's a porygon…"

"Yes, we've had him for some time now," Professor Oak explained. "Of course, porygon are genderless pokémon, but we dubbed him 'he' to make it easier on us. He's never been out of the lab before, but could use some... uh... exercise, if you're sure you want him."

"Oh, of course, Professor!" Anna bounded back and forth in excitement. The porygon imitated her movements until she noticed, then he stopped. "He's _adorable_."

"Alright, then," the Professor said, grinning. "I'm afraid, however, that I do not have any more pokéballs for you to take with you, or a pokédex like Kaiden's. Sorry about that." He turned to the computer on the single desk and fiddled with the mouse and keyboard. After a moment, a page came up with detailed information and a picture of the porygon next to it. "This is a page full of research we have conducted on this porygon. At the moment, we know it is at a low level of five at the moment, like that of the starters issued today, though I think Kaiden's might be a little higher now he's already started training. Back to the point, Porygon's attacks at the moment are Conversion 2, Tackle, Conversion and Sharpen. Numerous times he had entered our computer system and tackled viruses that were interfering with research, so I'd say he's the virtuous virtual type." Kaiden snickered quietly at the professor's lameness and as the porygon lifted his head in pride. "From what I've seen, he doesn't mind battling, so you should be fine."

"Well, I can't just take him, he needs to agree!" Anna said, turning back to the porygon and lying one, slender finger on his forehead. "What do you say?"

The porygon hovered still for a moment – maybe in contemplation, maybe in fits of mental laughter, anybody could guess. After about a minute, though, his large eyes sparkled happily and he back flipped. That could only mean yes.

"Oh, great!" The new trainer applauded herself as she went to hug her new porygon. He made an odd noise and flashed his colours before embracing her back. Ouch. Rough edges. Well he didn't look very plush in the first place, anyway. "I hope we make a really good team, I really do!" He flashed again. "I guess you agree?"

"Well, there you go." Professor Oak smiled again. "Now you wouldn't mind helping me return the last of these magikarp, would you? Then you may go."

* * *

It took only minutes for the three to finish the tidy-up, and with a flood of "sorry"s, from Anna, they were all set to leave. Kaiden stayed behind for a few moments while Anna took her new pokémon outside to see the world. Its eyes widened more than they already were as he floated through the grass and trees, causing pidgey to flutter and rattata to scatter. For these minutes, there was a state of nirvana eclipsing Anna's world. Everything seemed so perfect. She had her own pokémon now, and that was all she cared about. The world suddenly began to revolve around the two, triggering a whole new level of respect towards everything. The crystal-blue sky, the grass as green as oddish leaves – everything now had a perfect lustre to it, that just turned it into… utopia.

And as Kaiden returned, the sun reflected upon him a heavenly golden glow, and when he smiled at her, a particular gleam shone, making it seem more like he was smiling _into_ her. She smiled back with a dramatic sigh.

"That's my mission ended," he said with finality, referring to the package from Viridian. "We'd better move on. Don't want those other kids beating us now, do we?"

Annalyn nodded and called her porygon to her side. Once again, it back flipped, finishing up beside her at shoulder-height. What a theatrical moment. Two rookie trainers and a pokémon, standing out the front of the Pokémon Professor's laboratory, staring down Route 1 like it was a caterpie and they were Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres. Illuminated by the morning sun, excitement was evident on every face. Their dreams were about to be realised. Finally.

Springing with her right foot, Anna set off at a sprint, teeth lighting up her face as she ran and ran, closer and closer she got to the first Route, closer to her very first pokémon battle ever. _But wait –_ her thumping steps ceased and once more, she stood right on the border between the route and the town, lost in thought. This was where her nirvana began to fade. What if her porygon was _weak_? What if it couldn't even beat a flimsy, little, wild rattata? She doubted the virtual pokémon had gotten much battling experience back at the gym, and as a noob trainer, she had no strategies yet, whatsoever.

"Something wrong?"

Kaiden came up behind her and folded is arms. Maybe he had some better strategies. Maybe he should battle first, and she should take mental notes.

"Uh… yeah I'm fine." Anna replied and took her first step forward. Well that wasn't so bad, was it? So she took another slow step. And another. And another. Simple as that, right? Wrong! On her fourth step, a rattata burst out from under him and scurried away hastily with a cry of its own name. A small shriek escaped the young girl and she bolted around behind Kaiden. When she saw what she'd done, however, she ran back out in front of him and let out one "heh," as her face went slightly pink. After a few more steps, she started to become more comfortable and her pace became slightly more swift as she continued on, gradually gaining speed until she was practically running, and –

"WAH!"

_Fwump!_

"Pidge, Pidgey!"

She had tripped over a small bird-like pokémon. Her eyes slightly widened as she watched it glare furiously back at her. Her bottom lip trembled very slightly as the pidgey took off into the air, the dirt and sand from beneath it kicking up into the air around itself. With another cry of its name when it was high enough, the pokémon dived, ready to tackle. Anna rose onto her hands and feet, her back facing the ground, and attempted the same retreat as the rattata she had almost stepped on before. The pidgey was too fast. It swooped even further, gaining speed with every flap of its wings, Annalyn's hands flung from under herself to protect her face, and she closed her eyes, back hitting the ground with the same _fwump_ as before. Every muscle in her body was tensed as she braced herself. She was going to be hit any second now. Any second. Any... second... now?

Her arms moved from her face and her eyes blinked open. Standing before her was her porygon, his head connected with the pidgey's, as it flapped its wings feebly, determined to get past and hurt the girl who tripped over it. Annalyn stood up and ran to the side as her porygon let the bird go. The pidgey flew forward to land a few feet away. The porygon seemed really serious. His face was expressing a completely different feeling. Determination. The virtual pokémon was entirely focused on defeating the opponent, no matter what happened. He wanted to protect his new master. And seeing this, the new trainer's heart turned to custard, warm and gooey. She felt liked - adored, even - and this made her snap into a mode she had never experienced before. It was like she and the porygon had connected minds. Anna leaped behind her pokémon, ready to start the battle. Four sets of eyes glared as hard as the bird before them was glaring back. So much for studying Kaiden's strategies.

Annalyn called out the first move.

"Alright, Porygon, try your tackle attack!" Her first ever attack echoed around, bounding off of every solid surface, with such a tone that made the nearby pokemon scatter. Porygon called out his name and broke into a quick… float. He tore towards the pidgey with his body bowing forward. He slammed into the small bird, who's eyes blew up to the size of golf balls as it flapped around, trying to regain itself while it flew back. Immediately after it did, it swooped low and headed in for another tackle. The attack hit, barely, and served only a small amount of damage on Anna's porygon, who composed himself in a flash, ready for the next order.

"Let's tackle again!" Anna called, watching as porygon received his command. The pokémon once again zoomed forward and attempted to hit the bird again. Pidgey quickly barrel-rolled out of the way before it once again turned to tackle once more. Porygon was hit once again, a little more directly this time, taking a little more damage. Making a peculiar noise, he floated around to the front of his trainer. Pidgey scowled and chirped its name at a high pitch before Annalyn called for another tackle. "Ack!" The pidgey dodged again and once again headed into another tackle.

"Okay, I think we should try evading now," Anna said. Did she say it loud enough, though? Yes she did. Good. Her porygon floated exactly two feet horizontally to the left and the pidgey flew right past, twittering in frustration. "And another tackle!" Again, Porygon zipped forward, a lot slower due to fatigue, and rammed the pidgey head-on. A shrill cry came from the bird as it was hit and it fluttered feebly. Both pokémon were now becoming exhausted, Anna's porygon more so than the wild pidgey. Hopefully one good hit should finish the tiny bird pokémon off. But one good hit from the tiny bird pokémon, and her porygon would be finished, too.

"Here it comes."

Pidgey went into one more dive, sheer determination spread like concrete on its face. One last tackle.

"Dodge it! Try to hit it back!" Attempt failed. Porygon tried the same maneuver left as before, but was thwarted as the pidgey made one of the quickest turns it could and collided right into his side. Porygon shrieked and fell to the ground, its blue tail tabbing into the ground and its eyes swirling. The pidgey tweeted in triumph before remembering its original cause and dived for Annalyn herself. The girl squealed and brought her hands up in front of her face, closing her eyes tight, attempting to minimize damage to her face.

"Fab, use bubble attack, now!"

"Thquirtle, thquirt!"

"Pidge--!"

No pain.

… _What?_

Annalyn opened her eyes and removed her hands, blinking. In the air around her, three large bubbles remained which popped one by one. Anna blinked again in confusion before turning to Kaiden. Before the boy was a small, blue turtle. Its eyes were covered by a pair of sparkling, pink diva glasses that looked as though they had been made in the eighties. How funny. A wide grin stretched across the squirtle's face as it stared up at its damsel. And with a masculine tone, but a feminine lisp, the tiny turtle pokémon said once more, "thquirtle!" and flourished its hands the way a homosexual man would.

"Annalyn, meet Fab, my squirtle."

With another cry of its own name, the squirtle hurried over, arms flying through the air femininely, and leapt up to hug Anna tightly around the neck.

* * *

**Haha, meet Fab, the squirtle with the gay lisp.**

**A random fact: I'm a gaiaonline role player, and I often role play Pokémon. Fab (usually in his final evolution) is probably one of my most loved characters… though I haven't used him all that much. I also have a few other quirky pokémon that will be revealed throughout the chapters.**

**Don't you love him, though? :'D**


	3. Neon

Annalyn's appearance was of agitation and anxiety. Her chin and knees were a vice that pinned her hands into place as she stared at the orangey-brown shell on the small, wooden coffee table in front of her. How could she have lost to a little, tackling bird? There was connection! A real connection! Some sudden, unexplainable bond that linked her new porygon and her like string links two tin cans to make a 'telephone'. Yet they still _lost_. And this made Anna worried.

What if they kept losing?

Annalyn knew it. Kaiden had told her countless times since she got into her brooding mood that every trainer loses sometimes. Yes, she got that, but still, she couldn't shake the thought. It was consuming her, and she wanted it to stop! But at the same time, she needed it to persist. In a way, it was good that she lost. If she'd have won, she would have lapsed into immense pride, which would consume her and instead of tell her, _keep trying_, like the apprehension was, it would tell her, _you're already good enough_, and when she would eventually have lost, the bright spotlight she'd see around herself, blinding her, would flicker out to reveal a dark world of depression and angst that was _so_ much worse than the world she was in now. That kind of angst would be enough to tell her _maybe you're not cut out to be a trainer_, and she'd make herself go back and face her parents again.

"I told you." Kaiden laid spread out on the couch opposite her, his face snapping forward from staring blankly at the ceiling to look expectantly at her.

"I know," Anna said quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on Fab's shell. She hated how he was so much stronger than her pokémon was. "I just don't see how I lost. Porygon had a level advantage over the pidgey and everything… he should've been stronger."

"Don't blame him." The boy sat forward and used his arms to hold himself off his legs.

"Well then, what did _I_ do wrong?"

"Porygon has more than one attack, you know," he said, raising a brow matter-of-factly. "I only saw you use tackle."

"Well, I don't know what the other moves do! Porygon's got weird attacks. How many other pokémon can learn _conversion_?" Annalyn's eyes finally shot up into Kaiden's, which looked away as he reached back into his pocket to once again take out his pokédex. Flipping it open once more, he pressed a few buttons and handed it over to her. On the screen, a picture of a porygon appeared with small text underneath that read:

_Conversion: The user changes its body shape and texture to overall change its elemental type to match the type of one of its moves._

_Conversion 2: The user changes its body shape and texture to overall change is elemental type to match the type of the attack it last took damage from._

_Sharpen: The user changes its body shape, reducing polygon count, to boost their Attack stat._

"Oh." Anna's eyelids came further apart as she handed the pokédex back to her friend. Well, then. This training thing seemed so much easier now. She just needed to know how to use her porygon's attacks properly! Tackling did nothing, she could have fixed that up with a Sharpen or two, if she knew that was what it did. And to soften the pidgey's attacks, a Conversion 2 would have been perfect. Well, at least she knew what she was doing now. Her morale was now beginning to rise. "Thanks! So much!"

Kaiden smiled as a high pitched sound echoed around the room. Both sets of eyes turned to a door beside them. The light with the picture of a syringe above the door had flicked off and the door opened, exposing a round, pink pokémon with an egg tucked in a pouch at its stomach. It held a tray out, smiling, as it waddled to them. On the tray was a single pokéball, which held Annalyn's porygon. She took the ball, smiling back at the egg-like pokémon, which bowed and squeaked, "Chansey!" before waddling back through the door.

As it closed, Anna pressed the small, white button on her pokéball, releasing her porygon in that oh-so-familiar flash of light. Eyes smiling, the porygon greeted his master.

"Hey there," Anna greeted back with a small nod. "I made a decision while you were in there. To improve our performance in battle, I decided I should give you a nickname. Like Kaiden named his squirtle Fab after his... Fab-ness."

Porygon tilted his head. So did Kaiden. It looked quite funny, actually.

"That's actually a good idea," said Kaiden, astonished that he hadn't been the one to think it up. A vain remark, but Anna still agreed.

"I know, right?" She said proudly, straightening her back and sitting properly. "I thought that by giving him a nickname, our… connection would grow stronger, which would make us stronger in battle, too! So, what do you think?"

Porygon nodded immediately, flashing brightly, different shades of blue.

"Great! Now, what to name you..." she frowned and bit lightly on her tongue in thought. "You're pink and blue, like flowers. So… Flower?"

"How girly – he's a boy, Anna." Kaiden smirked mockingly.

"Oh, right. Damn. Uh…" Running her fingers through her hair, she stared at her starter pokémon, trying to pick out other features. "You have big, white eyes, like, uh… the sun? Sun as in the big star in the sky and son as in a mother's son. I've always liked the name Sonny…?"

Porygon shook his duck-like head.

"No? Okay…" Her mind raced through names like kids and crazes, each consecutive name more stupid than the last. Before she could help herself, she was going through more girls' names, most from her old school, which _happened_ to be a school that taught girls etiquette. An _all-girls_ school. She shook her head. "I can't think of anything. How annoying."

"Let me try," Kaiden said, re-tying his bandana. "He can do all computer-y stuff, right? How about… Pixel?" Another head shake. "No? What about, uh, Virus?" The virtual pokémon shook his head even more vigorously. Definitely didn't like that one. "Apple? Microsoft? Myspace?"

With a huff of irritancy, Porygon flashed with impatience, like a bright red, ne…on _light_!!

"Neon!" Annalyn grinned at her epiphany. She really liked that one, as the porygon loved to show off its colours. And it seemed said porygon liked the name, too, as it nodded energetically and flashed every colour of the rainbow, a silent way of communicating its delight. "Perfect, right? You like the name Neon?"

"Por!"

"Great! From now on, you will be named Neon after your brightness." Anna stood and clasped her hands together at her chest. "Well, I think, _Neon_, that we have some training to do!"

"Best idea yet!" Kaiden also stood, seeming eager, took a pokéball and returned Fab. "I think route 2 is fairly close to us, and has heaps of pokémon that aren't pidgey or rattata. I think I might try catching a pokémon there, too…"

Anna returned her own pokémon after flashing a brief smile at them and stepped around the coffee table in front of her and as she followed Kaiden out of the Viridian City Pokémon Center, she smiled.

She now felt so much more confident – even more so than she was when she wrote the letter! She now knew she could make it. All she needed was a few battles won and she could face the Viridian City Gym! She only had Kaiden for raising her spirits back up. Without him, she would have only seen the bad side to losing her first battle. She would have returned Neon to Professor Oak with apologies of sadness and regret and had Kaiden escort her home, where she would learn to run her parents' chain of fancy hotels like she was supposed to. However, with his 'pep talk', her porygon's nickname and her new knowledge of Neon's attacks, Anna found that she could just have had what it took to beat anyone.

All she needed was strategy, strength, and a mentor to teach her these things. And although Kaiden was just as juvenile as she was, he still had much more capability than she, so she could still learn from him. She just had to stick with him. Then she and Neon would be fine.

* * *

**I need set days that I'll post up each new chapter. I'll figure that out soon.**

**This chapter seems boring to me, however the next shouldn't be too horrible. I have a plan.**


	4. Criminal

"Yes, sir. Will do, sir."

Full, red lips spoke seductively into a small, black microphone.

One, slender hand swept smoothly through soft, blonde locks.

A purple snake pokémon coiled around a slim waist, hissing as her free hand caressed it.

Carmen Beaumont, a twenty-year-old trainer, watched silently as the two rookie trainers fought off any rattata, nidoran, caterpie or pidgey that came their way. They seemed to be quite strong, having the ability to defeat each and every pokémon that seemed threatened. Every bubble, every tackle, every evasion – Carmen watched and evaluated with a seductive smirk. She hid in the shadows of the trees, awaiting the right moment to pounce. The Boss would be proud of her if she recruited such hard workers with such rare pokémon. A man-made pokémon, porygon, and the tiny turtle pokémon, barely seen in the wild - what could be better for her Boss's collection?

"Careful now, Claudius," she whispered as the snake grew impatient. It was clear on the slithery pokémon's face that he wanted to get to their pokémon. Another rattata scampered, defeated, into the shrubbery. "You'll get your turn soon."

* * *

That was six! Six pokémon she had defeated without Neon fainting once. With every win, her excitement multiplied. More! More! Another female nidoran jumped out at the two, its round, blue ears twitching as it prepared to attack. The nidoran leapt, aiming a scratch attack at them with a cry of its name and baring its large teeth. Without a word, Neon dodged the attack and readied itself for an order.

"Use your Sharpen!" Anna called, standing defensively. She turned her head for the splittest of seconds to see Kaiden a few metres away with Fab, who was battling a male nidoran. Turning her head back, she witnessed Neon glow, change and fade. Neon now looked a lot more dangerous with its attack stat raised. Nidoran came in for another scratch. "Take the hit, and then use Conversion 2!"

Bracing himself, Neon took the scratch and flew back a few metres. It began to glow once more and became a rock-like texture, its overall element changed from the normal-type to rock-type. The nidoran growled at this, face twisting into a frustrated frown. This lowered Neon's boosted attack stat back to its original level.

"No matter, just tackle it!" Anna ordered. The stone-skinned Neon whizzed forward and crashed into the nidoran, knocking it into the ground below, loose dirt being kicked from underneath, forming clouds that disappeared after a few seconds. Nidoran jumped forward to scratch again, but Neon once again evaded and on his master's call, used one more tackle, which knocked the nidoran into the forest, where a tall, beautiful woman strolled regally out.

The woman's blonde hair parted along the top of her head and fell to the small of her back, which was covered by a black coat which would often be seen worn by a lady in an office. Her eyes were a clear shade of sky blue and her skin was as fair as a blank sheet of paper. She wore bright red lipstick on her full lips, which matched the bright red 'R' hanging from her silver necklace. Her black skirt was fairly short and her boots, which incidentally were also black, reached about a third of the way up her thigh. In her hand was a pair of, you guessed it, _black_ gloves and coiled around her waist was a large, purple snake, which hissed and glared with its golden eyes, "ekanssssssss".

The woman clapped three times and then let her hands fall, one landing softly on her pokémon's head.

"Wow," she said, turning her head very slightly to the left with a smile that could seduce a jynx. "Just wow. You and your porygon are a fantastic duo – you really have potential!"

Anna gave the woman a suspicious look. "Potential?"

"The name's Carmen Beaumont. I work for a small organization that targets tough trainers like you to train to the best of their abilities. We can make you stronger, smarter and overall more able to compete against the Elite Four of the Indigo League. The offer's there for you, if you want it."

The young girl was taken right aback. This had to be a joke – she was only just starting out! How could she have potential if she was totally new to training pokémon? This Carmen… there was something not quite right about her, either. The way she stood importantly, her malevolent smile that was poorly masked, to Anna, by seductive assets, and especially that ekans around her waist – it was too evil to look at. Anna couldn't trust her.

"What is this organization's name, then?" Anna said, trying to keep her teeth from clenching. The snake pokémon's hissing was starting to get on her nerves. "And why should I trust you?"

"Quiet, Claudius, don't want to distress her too much." She began to fiddle with the red 'R' on her necklace. "I'm from a group of trainers called Team Rocket who are interested in acting as mentors to rookie trainers. Only the best are allowed in." With a light chuckle, her eyes flashed away while she answered Anna's second question. "And you should trust me, because —"

"What's going on here?" Kaiden's voice sounded like a choir of angels in her awkward moment. Carmen sighed. Wait – she seemed to be _relieved_.

That put the lid on the situation for Annalyn. "Sorry, I think I can make the League on my own. Thanks, anyway."

"Are you sure?" the woman questioned with a disbelieving look. "This is a once in a li—"

"I said no."

"No to what?" Kaiden asked loudly. Anna wanted to hit him. He needed to shut up.

Carmen re-told the story patiently. Claudius began hissing again with everything but the serenity his master was showing. As she spoke, the seduction began to take effect. The small smile in the corner of her mouth, the wondrous aroma of her perfume, the way she stood and shifted her weight – it was all infiltrating Kaiden's mind. What the _hell_! He was ten! He shouldn't be able to be brainwashed by this method! Outrageous! And it worked, as when Carmen finished, the boy took Anna by the arm and began to walk away.

"Let me talk to her. I'll try to change her mind," he said to the Rocket, dragging the girl a few metres away before dropping his voice. "_What_? You're saying _no_ to an offer like _that_?"

"Yes." Anna's voice was a lot louder than Kaiden's, but she didn't care. She wanted the woman to hear. "I don't like her. She doesn't seem nice. And that ekans makes it worse."

"Yeah, but… we'll probably never see her there, anyway! She'll be out looking for people like us to join! The other trainers that would be teaching us might be nicer, and if they're not, we'll leave! C'mon!"

"I dunno…" Anna's eyes concentrated on the ground, before snapping up to meet his excited blue irises.

"I know! We'll battle her. If she wins, we'll go with her, if we win, we'll keep training on our own." He bit his lip hopefully, putting on a pleading expression.

"Fine." Anna turned and walked back to Carmen, who was waiting with Claudius, who had now slithered onto the ground like they knew what they were in for. "Carmen, I think to help us decide, we'll have a battle. Me and Kaiden against you… if you have two pokémon that is…?"

"So you want me to prove to you that I'd make a good mentor or something?"

"A bit like that, yeah." Kaiden muttered, smitten. It seemed like he really didn't what to do this. He just wanted to go with her.

"Perfectly fine idea. I'll choose Valerie first, then." Carmen maximised a pokéball from her black belt, which was concealed under her coat. The ekans hissed and retreated back to waist as she spoke, golden eyes glaring.

"I'll go first. Let's go, Fab!" Kaiden declared, throwing a red and white orb to the ground, where it burst open in a flash of light, which materialized into the small, blue turtle with the pink diva glasses from before. Second flash of light announced the entrance of a small, red fox with six tails. Its large, black eyes stared viciously at the water-type. Against a vulpix, Kaiden had a type advantage. "Alright, let's use Bubble attack, Fab!"

The squirtle inhaled and blew an array of bubbles which shined in the afternoon sun like mirrors. Without a word from Carmen, the fox leapt out of the way of the water attack, clearly not wanting its fire to be dampened.

"Use your Tail Whip attack, Valerie!" Kaiden's opponent ordered calmly. She seemed over-confident, and that usually was the downfall of a trainer. However, she still seemed to know what she was doing. The vulpix jumped around and shook its six tails in the air, which mesmerized Fab, lowering his defence stat. "Now hit him with a quick attack!"

In half a second, Valerie disappeared, and in the next half a second, she was crashing into Fab, who barely had time to brace himself. With the vulpix's force, and the added effect of her Tail Whip, the tiny turtle pokémon went skidding on his shell a few metres to the right. However, with the speed of Vulpix's Quick Attack, Fab regained his composure and awaited the next order, which happened to be a Withdraw manoeuvre. In another second, Fab disappeared inside his shell, which fell onto the ground. His defence rose as he rolled onto his feet, which had re-appeared, along with his arms and head, from inside the shell as quickly as they had retreated in.

"Another Withdraw, Fab!"

Again, the squirtle retreated into his shell, though this time not as much. His arms, legs, and neck shortened which helped him brace himself and heightened his defence even more.

"Valerie, I think we should show him your Tail Whip again. He doesn't seem to get the hint that we can lower his stats just as much as he can build on them," Carmen said, running her hands through her hair. The fox pokémon turned and shook her tails once more, causing Fab to come out of his defensive position.

"Over this. Let's do some real battling. Use bubble, Fab!"

At his master's orders, the squirtle sent myriads of the same bubbles from before at the vulpix, who was hit, yelping its name in pain.

Carmen's calm expression began to turn aggressive. "Get up, Valerie! Counter with Ember!" Her words seemed to show her agitation as she called out the next move. The vulpix opened _her_ mouth this time and blew a soft flame at the bubbles, each pop rained water on the attack, dampening it, weakening it to the point where, when it hit the tiny turtle, the effects were only minor.

"And now a Quick Attack!"

As Fab recovered from the feeble Ember attack, Valerie came in from the side at full speed, ramming him down with a "vul!" Then, on Kaiden's order, the water type composed himself and lowered himself for a tackle. At his little run, Fab crashed into Valerie, who was running, exhausted, to her master for the next order. The fox fell forward into the dirt and whimpered. It didn't look like it would last the bubble attack, which Kaiden planned to use next.

At the call, Fab blew one last group of bubbles, which crashed into Valerie's back, as she was barely off the ground yet, and flung her to her trainer's feet. Carmen looked disappointedly at her vulpix as she returned it.

"You should have been stronger," she said cruelly, minimizing the pokéball and attaching it to her belt once more before grabbing a second pokéball and throwing it into the grass. From the flash of light came a small, blue pokémon with large, green leaves sprouting from the top of its head. It looked fairly clumsy and weak, which made Kaiden chuckle. Even with the type advantage oddish had over squirtle, this thing looked pathetic.

"Adorinda, use your Energy Ball attack, hon!" Carmen said with a confident smirk.

"Energy – _what_?" Both Kaiden and Annalyn stared in disbelief as the little oddish named 'Adorinda' shot a large ball of green energy at her opponent. Fab was struck hard in the chest and flew back into the trunk of a tree. With his diva glasses knocked off, his swirling eyes were shown as the tiny turtle pokémon slid to the ground. Kaiden gasped sharply and ran to return his pokémon as Annalyn stepped into his place, staring readily.

"Alright, now you have to face _me_!" she practically yelled in rage. There was no way she was going to lose. There was absolutely no way, because if she lost, she'd have to start conforming again. She'd have to start conforming to another group of people telling her what to do. She became a trainer to escape that. She became a trainer for freedom, not constriction. So therefore, she had to fight for her freedom. "Let's go, Neon!"

Well rested, yet absolutely pumped after watching the last battle, Neon zipped in front of his master with a ready face.

Carmen smirked seductively. "You're my real prize, anyway. Prepare yourself, girlie. Adorinda, dear, you wouldn't mind absorbing, would you?"

"Oddish!" Adorinda squealed, jumping forward and leeching a small amount of energy from her opponent.

"You know what to do, Neon!" she said wit her own attempt at a seductive smirk. It didn't work. Nevertheless, her porygon began to glow a bright white as its body make-up changed from normal pink and blue pixels to a steely-grey colour. He had morphed into the steel-type.

"Oh, great." Carmen seemed distressed. Perfect. "No matter – we still have a level advantage. Use Energy Ball!"

The oddish shot another ball of green energy, which exploded on impact. Although it caused a small amount of damage, it still was enough to knock the porygon back. Neon composed himself just in time to dodge another Energy Ball which was headed for him. Was that even fair?

Adorinda continued to shoot her energy balls like a machine gun. Most splattered onto Neon, reducing his stamina slowly towards its end. However, without warning, and completely out of reflex, Neon dodged three consecutive blobs at a time and began to glow a bright blue. This blue aura gathered under his 'beak' and became a beam which shot right through every Energy Ball in the air at the time and hit the oddish square in the face. The weed pokémon was sent soaring back; landing in the same place the vulpix did and cried. Anna stared.

What was _that_?

Whatever it was, it was a powerful move, and it was a critical move against Adorinda. And whatever it was, it pretty much won the battle. Annalyn grinned broadly, unable to contain her excitement. She had just beaten her first trainer! And a trainer so much older than her, too! This was just too much to bear, she was so excited. But, all this faded when she looked back up at Carmen. Her face was of absolute fury, she could have exploded on the spot like an electrode.

"Fine," the woman said calmly, though her composed edge had completely disappeared. She was now in some kind of berserk mode. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way, then. Weedle, use String Shot!"

With two flashes of light, the oddish disappeared, to be replaced by a small, orangey-yellow caterpillar-like pokémon that had a large, white stinger on its head. From its mouth it shot a sticky thread that wrapped around porygon, immobilising him. Carmen took the string from the hairy pokémon's mouth and tugged on it, pulling the powerless Neon towards her.

"No, stop!" Annalyn called. This wasn't happening – it wasn't! She ran after her pokémon.

"Claudius, use Poison Sting!"

Annalyn was stopped in her tracks as flurries of poisoned purple needles were shot through the air at her, stabbing into her at various points. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground, her vision blurring as she stared up at her porygon. They were taking him from her! They couldn't! She attempted to stand, but she fell once again with another shriek. The pain was too much! She blinked once; her eyes opened to two-thirds what they were before. The weedle was shooting sticky, white string at the Kaiden's fallen squirtle and a second flurry of poison needles were shot at Kaiden himself, who fell in pain himself. Anna blinked a second time, her eyes drooped lower and her vision was blurred even more as Carmen called back her pokémon and paraded proudly off into Viridian Forest, two bundles of string dragging on the ground behind her.

Anna's eyes closed once more, and did not open again as she lay there a few feet away from Kaiden, both poisoned, both bleeding, both unconscious.


	5. Rescue

"_Oddish!"_

Up, down, left, down, up, right, left, ack! Left, down, right, left, right, up, ack! Ack! ACK!

_Continuously, Annalyn was hit by the blobs of energy, though this energy was nothing like that of the oddish from before – it was black. Black like this new oddish's leaves, which swayed as it shot more and more and more blobs furiously at her. Anna had no time to dodge, she was being pelted over and over, each hit knocking her back further and further until she was able to find her feet and dodge three. Her skin began to glow a pale blue and in her hands, a ball of psychic energy began to form. With a flick of her wrists, the ball formed into a beam, which shot at the oddish, knocking it back._

_But unlike Neon's beam, this one seemed to do nothing to the weed pokémon but send it soaring. As soon as it hit the ground, it flicked itself back up, unaffected, and began to grow tendrils of darkness, which morphed and shifted into the shape of a tall, blond woman with a seductive, serrated smile that stretched across her face, taking half the space up. Her eyes were a blood red, so was the red 'R' on her chest. This silhouetted woman pounced like a persian and tackled Anna to the ground. From her mouth, sticky vines spurted and swerved around Annalyn, constricting her like an ekans. In fact, the vines became a series of ekans that squeezed the last breath out of the poor girl's lungs as her eyes closed…_

…

And then opened to a bright, white light that blinded her momentarily. She was in some kind of unfamiliar room. Everything was pale, like whitewashed stones at the beach. Was she in heaven? She couldn't have been! She was still being constricted! She wriggled and squirmed, trying to free herself of the ekans that was binding her until her eyes fell down onto her body. She wasn't being squeezed at all. What she thought was a snake pokémon was actually a white blanket that was tucked so tightly that she barely had room to breath.

She blinked twice, trying to clear the blurring haze that remained. A shake of her aching head cleared her mind properly and she turned it to the table next to her. A frosty cup of water was sitting there, half full of ice. Water vapour fell from the sides of the glass and, as it connected to the ground, clouded into a ring of frosty air. Upon noticing it, Anna realized how thirsty she was. It looked so good. She wanted it. But it was probably someone else's.

But, then again, who would leave a full glass of water next to some random girl's bed? Not that the bed was Anna's, anyway…

But, if the bed wasn't hers, who did it belong to? Why was she even here? She was supposed to be dead! There was no way she could have survived all those poisoned needles.

And what about Kaiden? He was hit with the same pelting of needles! Whatever happened to him?

And… Neon…?

Anna's eyes slowly slid from the glass of water to her hands, which she had somehow been able to free from the sheets. As much as she didn't want to think about it, she couldn't help but ponder. She wanted to at least know how they were treating him. If they were doing anything cruel… the ex-trainer didn't know how she'd live. At the moment, she didn't care for anything but the porygon's welfare; however, along with anguish, one emotion existed in the back of her mind: disappointment.

She could not believe it. The day she gets her first pokémon ever – the day she leaves her family to become a trainer… the _exact_ same day... she loses her pokémon to scum like Team Rocket. Professor Oak would be devastated and unimpressed. He'd probably never let her have another pokémon. Ever. She'd probably just have to catch her own starter pokémon… by herself. But with her experience, all she would be able to catch would be something puny, like a caterpie.

And _then_, this is getting a little old, but she would then have to return home a failure.

She fell back onto her pillow. It was obvious to her now, of all times, that she was never meant to become a trainer. Her parents hatred towards the creatures, seeing Professor Oak an hour or so late, losing her first battle – all the signs had been there, and she'd ignored every one of them in her pride and determination.

Life was horrible.

"I hate it," she said loudly more to herself than anyone in the vicinity of wherever she was. She wriggled again in frustration. "It's never _fair_."

"Anna? You're awake?" Kaiden had appeared in the doorway in front of a large, muscular man with extremely tanned skin, brown hair and rough clothes. He looked like he'd be one to survive in the mountains by himself. Anna nodded at Kaiden and smiled, glad to see him. She was beginning to fear that he was the only one in this house she knew.

The man smiled. "Ah, finally. You must have been exhausted. Don't worry; the antidote's cleared all the poison up in your body."

"Wh-who are you?" she asked the man. Her voice had abruptly become frail. Weird. "And where are we?"

"Name's Flint and you're in my home in Pewter City," he said, following Kaiden into the room. He sat on a chair next to the bed. "You've been asleep for about three days now… how're you feeling?"

"I have a headache, but I think I'll be fine." A lie. She wouldn't be fine until she knew Neon was okay.

Needless to say, this whole situation was freaking her out. She was in a strange man's house without a clue how she got there or what had happened in the three days she had slept. Had Kaiden told the man the story? In a way, though, she was happy she had Flint to take her back to Pewter with him. He saved her from certain death and a long trip though Viridian Forest, which she honestly was not looking forward to.

"Thanks," she said quietly to Flint, not looking him in the eye. Not that she was lying; she was just a little embarrassed. Her eyes dropped to her hands once more with a long sigh, which might have been a little louder than she wanted it to be.

Kaiden gave her a look of empathy. "I know. I feel exactly the same."

Anna said nothing.

"We'll rescue them. Tomorrow. Good idea?" Kaiden suggested, his hopeful expression returning.

"But… we don't know where they are…" Anna muttered, disheartened.

"I have a feeling they're here in Pewter," Flint said. Anna raised a brow. What did he know about Team Rocket? "I know what you're thinking. Kaiden told me that this Carmen lady went into the Forest, and there're only two exits, one to the north and one to the south. And seeing as she entered into the south end, she had to come out at the Pewter City end. Therefore, she's in Pewter City… unless she took Diglett Tunnel to Vermillion City, which is unlikely. From Kaiden's description of her, she doesn't seem like one to walk too long to get to one place. That would also rule out Cerulean."

"You guys must have thought about this a lot…" Why, oh why did she have to sleep for three days?! "I think we should ask around the city. Maybe someone might have seen her."

"We've already asked the Pokémon Center and the PokéMart," Flint said, raising his head in thought. "I was about to go out and ask the people at the gym and museum, when we heard you wake up."

"Did you find anything out…?"

"Not yet," said Kaiden, staring at his hands, too. "But I have a feeling we'll find something. Nurse Joy said she saw a woman who looked like her come in the other day, but she didn't have any pokémon but her vulpix and oddish."

"Well then she is here…" Anna whispered. The other two nodded. "Then we have to find her!" Whoa. Random burst of strength! As she finished her proposal, Anna had, out of the blue, thrown her blankets off herself, revealing most of her body. In a second, she was standing and slipping into her sneakers, which were conveniently placed by Flint next to her bed. Her tremendous desire to see Neon again had gotten the better of her, and the opportunity of it happening was aiding it. She was now entirely energetic, which was odd, as a minute ago she was too lazy to even move the covers. Was she just mistaking depression for idleness? And that the cure to her disorder was just the prospect of seeing her porygon again?

"We should split up." Flint suggested, standing up himself now, followed by Kaiden. "I'll go to the Pewter City Gym and you two can head up to the museum. See or hear anything, call me." He pulled a drawer from the bedside table and took from it a small notepad and pen. After scribbling his details, he gave them the pad and pen and a small, black phone. "If you find any trouble, don't hesitate to call me."

* * *

"For Mew's sake!"

"What _now_?"

"We've walked through this part about five-hundred times already! There's clearly _nothing_ here."

Anna was getting impatient. Since they had arrived at the museum, all they had seen or heard was fossils and crying babies. Nobody knew what they were asking them about. No one. It was frustrating. Anna wanted out. It was obvious they weren't going to find anything here, so why even _bother_? But Kaiden was sure something, some kind of clue, would pop up somewhere. The young girl didn't know why, but he did. The only thing that drove her was Neon at the moment. Anything else and she would have quit hours ago. It was funny how one could get attached to their pokémon, even after such a short span of time.

Right now, she was hoping. Hoping that Kaiden's hunches were trustworthy. From the first day she met him, she got the vibe of an extremely motivated boy. Though his judgements were sometimes flawed, such as that with 'old golbat' as she had been calling Carmen since she'd woken up, they were usually meant for the best. She also knew that when he knew someone could do something, he would try to encourage them until they do, like when Anna had lost her first battle ever.

She was also hoping, obviously, that Neon was okay. She was hoping that they weren't hurting him, torturing him, or making him uncomfortable. She was hoping they hadn't brainwashed him or something like Carmen almost did to Kaiden. They had better be taking care of him.

"Hm…" Kaiden stroked his chin, staring around at the unusually large amount of men in lab coats. "They all seem to be 'rocket scientists'." Rocket scientists? What was Kaiden getting to? "Let's follow them."

Without much of a warning other than that, Kaiden slowly began to dawdle, about ten metres behind the scientists. This seemed really stupid, but kind-of smart. Rockets disguised as rocket scientists, how intriguing. The idea, though slightly obvious, was a pretty good cover. Especially being based some place like this museum. So there was a real method to the boy's madness as they followed the men into a forbidden-to-public corridor.

The corridor sloped steeply downwards. It was funny how they did not notice it here before until now. The lower the went, the darker the corridor got. Every now and then, a sharp turn would throw the two into a fit of renewed curiosity. The more they walked, the less they even thought about calling Flint, which was probably the worst aspect of this. Flint had told them to call him when anything was found, but as soon as they found something, the tanned man was forgotten.

After a possible half an hour of walking, they finally came to a doorway into a large, heavily-lit, round room with three more corridors coming off at ninety degrees from their adjacent two. The furniture in the room was that of a registration office. In the middle of the room was a circular desk where three women, all blonde, sat. What was most intriguing about this desk, however, was that it seemed to be made, apart from the black counter that extended out over the women's' laps, of large, red 'R's.

The scientists took their coats off, exposing men and women in black Team Rocket uniforms, and separated into three groups of different quantities. These groups moved up a corridor, each, the largest going straight forward.

The receptionist at the front looked up from her computer screen and muttered something into her phone. She then beckoned the two over. "You must be our new recruits… Jessie and… James?"

Luck. Sheer luck was the only way to describe the situation. While Anna stared with a puzzled, naïve expression, Kaiden nodded, both remained silent.

"Where are your uniforms?" the receptionist asked, giving them a suspicious look. The two looked at each other, pleading for help. The receptionist, however, shrugged and stuck a stick of gum into the side of her mouth. "Just take these spares and get changed in that closet over there." She reached under her desk and took two sets of Rocket Grunt uniforms and handed them over.

Kaiden went first, Annalyn went second and after a few minutes, they were changed. Thanking the receptionist, they walked briskly along the corridor the largest group of rockets took. They hadn't noticed before, but along each wall were large, glass windows into large, white laboratory rooms that were littered with pokémon of all shapes. A group of rattata had been put in a giant maze where a piece of cheese sat awaiting them in the middle; two tall pokémon were punching and kicking each other in a boxing ring; and a pidgeotto, butterfree, meowth and pinsir were pinned back to a wall, hooked up to some weird, buzzing machine. In fact, they all seemed to be hooked up to the buzzing machine. It was sickening. Why were they doing this?

They turned a corner and saw more pokémon participating in tests. They just keep getting worse. Doduo and dodrio on treadmills, blindfolded caterpie and weedle string shotting random obstacles, they even tested fire pokémon's' reactions to water. Vulpix, growlithe and ponyta were lined along the back wall, much like those in the last room, and every now and then were sprayed with misted water. Anna and Kaiden watched them whimper and cry out. If this was what was happening to normal pokémon, they couldn't imagine what was going on with rare pokémon such as Fab and Neon…

A last corner was turned and they had entered the longest corridor yet. This one was not lined with windows into laboratories; it was covered in paintings of legendary pokémon and pokémon neither Anna nor Kaiden had ever seen before. At the end of the corridor were a pair of large, wooden double doors with majestic pokémon engraved into each door, three of them birds and the last, a small, cat-like pokémon. In silence, they pushed the heavy door open and entered.

This room was huge.

In every corner was a sleeping pokémon, all extremely rare. A lot of them, the two were clueless towards their identity. Kaiden's pokédex said nothing on most of them. There was a huge aquarium containing various fish-like pokémon and one orangey-brown shell. Kaiden ran to this pokémon before any others and stared, his hands and face pressed against the glass. As soon as he did so, the squirtle came out of its shell, diva glasses glistening, and upon noticing his trainer, swam downwards as fast as he could. At the bottom of the tank was a sealed door into a small room that was connected to the tank itself by another sealed door.

Fab entered this little room from the water, filling it with the liquid as he entered. He closed the door, pushed a large button, which drained the water back into the tank and opened the door. Fab was smart! And when he ran at full speed to hug his trainer, he was praised for it. It seemed the rarer pokémon were allowed to roam free in this room when they weren't being tested. At least they were being semi-well looked after… from what it looked like, anyway.

But where was _Neon_?

Ice then began to climb Anna's spine. Someone had entered the room – someone unwelcomed to the two, who turned to face the new presence. A short, albino male stood in the doorway with a puzzled expression. He wore the usual grunt uniform and held a pokéball in his hand. He seemed fairly young, possibly a new recruit. The three braced themselves as the boy spoke with a menacing glare.

"I'd put that back, if I were you, kid," the grunt said, gripping tighter on his pokéball. "The boss wouldn't be too fond of you taking it with you."

Kaiden put Fab down in front of himself, but the turtle stood still. He obviously had no intent on being separated from his trainer again.

"Go on," the grunt grunted. "Get back in your tank, squirtle."

Fab let out a defiant "thquirt!" and crossed his small arms.

"Get in there!" the albino man became a tad more threatening as he threw the pokéball in his hand. "Let's go, Brat! Get that squirtle in the tank! Use bite!"

The usual flash of light erupted from the pokéball and a familiar purple pokémon stared up at them. The rattata leaped forward at an amazing speed, jaw at an obtuse angle, and sunk its teeth into Fab's left arm. The water type squealed and ran in circles, but didn't dare move away from his master. They'd been apart for far too long. Eventually, the rattata let go and started ranting. Fab just persisted on shaking his head. The rocket growled.

"Who _are_ you, anyway?" he snorted, raising an eyebrow cockily. He then frowned at the tenacious turtle pokémon.

"My name's Josie and he's Jason," Annalyn said without thinking. The guy didn't look impressed. Damn, she got the names wrong. "I mean, Jane and John! No, Jessie and James!"

"How about… intruder one and intruder two?" the grunt was as sharp as his hair was white. As Anna mentally smacked herself in the back of the head, he called at his rattata to use quick attack. The rat pokémon disappeared for a fraction of a second and appeared next to Fab, crashing into it at a great speed. The orange shell and the blue body streaked past Anna and bounced off a large, sleeping pokémon. Fab landed on his feet about three feet from the sleeping pokémon and sucked in a mouthful of air. Upon a strong exhale, he used his bubble attack, which shot through the air and assaulted the rattata, who had not been given an order to dodge.

"Thquirtle!" Fab squealed, running back to his trainer as Brat recovered from the blow. The grunt cried with aggravation and ordered the rattata to use another bite attack. Again, the rat leapt with its jaw wide, ready to sink his teeth into the tiny turtle.

Kaiden seemed to jolt into battle mode. "Use withdraw!"

Fab sunk back into his shell just as Brat bit. The rat's teeth slipped right off his opponent's shell. Kaiden called out for another bubble attack, and from Fab's head hole, shot a blast of bubbles that burst on the rattata, pushing it back again.

"One more tackle to finish it!" Fab's arms, legs, tail and head shot out of his shell and he ran a Brat's side, hitting it into a large, sleeping bear-like pokémon. The rattata landed on its feet and struggled to stay up before it fell to the side and fainted before disappearing into his trainer's pokéball.

"Can you not do anything right in battle?" the grunt muttered to his returned pokémon with an aggravated tone. He then looked up at his opponent. "This isn't over. We'll meet again, and next time, Jacob Hart will be the winner." He turned and ran, hitting a fairly large, red button as he exited the room. Red lights flashed like fire and painted the walls red, then back to white, and then red again as a high-pitched alarm rang relentlessly. The two trainers began to sprint, Kaiden returning Fab in the usual flash of light.

* * *

**Aight. Thanks again for reviewing. I took it in and have changed. Don't you feel wonderful for impacting on a fellow writer's style? :'DDD**

**WHERE IS NEON?! D':**

**Haha, I'm trying to figure that out myself.**


	6. Escape

No time to rescue the other pokémon – Anna and Kaiden had to run. They couldn't retrace their steps, so they just followed any random corridor they could. After the second turn, a familiar female voice cried, "Stop them!" The receptionist was chasing closely behind, followed by a small, winged pokémon with large, blue ears and no eyes. It screeched at a strange pitch, causing the two to split up and follow two different passages.

Annalyn just kept running. She was confused and totally lacked sense of direction. Several times she turned and ran straight into a wall until she finally found herself seeing straight. The zubat's Supersonic attack had worn off, which was good, but she had also just ran into a barricade of Rockets with various different pokémon. She fumbled for Neon's pokéball, but as her hand brushed its smooth, round surface, she was reminded of Neon's current position and turned on her heel to find another blockade appear, the receptionist at the front and two other rockets behind her. One had jaw-length, silvery-blue hair and the other had extremely long red hair. They all looked extremely unimpressed.

The blue-haired rocket called out a round pokémon that let puffs of gas from its crater-like lumps on its body and the red-head called an ekans out. From behind them, a meowth appeared, claws readied. Anna turned back to the other rockets. They were now summoning their own pokémon – another rattata, another zubat, a funny plant pokémon with a bell-shaped head and round, metallic pokémon with magnets coming from its sides.

Trapped!

Anna turned back to the receptionist and the rockets, biting her lip.

"Zubat, bite!"

"Koffing, smog attack!"

"Ekans, use poison sting!"

"Meowth!" the cat pokémon leapt, claws glistening morbidly, ready to use scratch.

"Rattata, you use bite, too!"

"Zubat, use your gust attack!"

"Bellsprout, it's time to use vine whip!"

"Magnemite, hit her with your thundershock!"

"Ack!" Annalyn shrieked, falling onto her stomach to dodge everything heading for her. Above her, a cataclysmic battle erupted; scratching, biting, whipping, poison needles flew in one direction, a thick smoke swirled, which was blown away by the zubat's gust and inside all that, a bolt of electricity zapped anything in its road. The girl screamed once more as the large, glass windows shattered and sprinkled. Shards stabbed sinisterly into her skin as she was lifted from the ground and flown into the next room.

She looked up. Neon was carrying her between his feet-like parts at a speed she had never seen him move before. He shot beams of bluey-violet light in various directions, obviously attacking the assaulting enemy pokémon. The porygon seemed to know where he was going as he darted from corridor to corridor. It wasn't long until they had met up with Kaiden and Fab in the lobby, where Neon dropped his master, exhausted.

"_NEON_!" Anna cried in relief, pushing herself off the ground, despite the pains of her wounded body, and hugging her starter. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Where were you? We couldn't – f-find – y-you – _anywhere_!" She was now sobbing, both in pain and bliss.

"Never mind that, we have to _go_!"

"Magnemite, stop them using Thunder Wave!" one of the grunts from before called, pointing towards the four. The pokémon's magnets began to buzz and after a split second, a shockwave was sent hurtling towards them.

"Geodude, shower them with Mud Sport!" came a gruff voice. A light flashed and a rock pokémon floated swiftly out in front of them, raising its hands. Just as the Thunder Wave attack came to the rock-type, a blast of mud exploded from the ground, nullifying its effects. "Kaiden, Anna, follow me! Geodude, return!"

In the sloping corridor from the museum, a silhouetted Flint stood with an open pokéball that beamed the geodude into it. Turning on his heel, the man started running up the slope. The two kids returned their own pokémon and followed suit, racing up the corridor, narrowly escaping another Thunder Wave, which was actually being pushed faster by a Gust.

Every movement of muscle shot pain through her body. Her eyes were overflowing with tears while her hands and teeth were clenched tightly. There was a ringing in her ears that muffled the Rockets' frustrated shouting. They were chased at least half-way along the corridor, every few steps a new attack from a nameless pokémon would streak past, they were lucky they weren't hit. They turned a corner and the museum's lights became a beacon. They weren't being chased anymore, however, the two kids still ran up until the doorway into the museum, where Flint had slowed to a walk.

People stared as Annalyn and Kaiden hobbled, aching, out of the building, panting and crying. The courier came out and asked if they needed help, but Flint declined and continued to escort them. More people stared as they walked more easily through the streets. It still hurt, but they had to be inconspicuous, as much as their appearance denied that.

After a while, they reached Flint's house again. Kaiden fell onto the lounge, exhausted, and drifted off into a sudden peace. Anna, however, was directed to a chair by Flint, who left to find a first aid kit. Annalyn coughed and tapped the button on Neon's pokéball, taking in a breath that shook as a result of her crying. She smiled at her starter.

"Wow. What a day, huh?" she said, her voice was hoarse and she was starting to remember how thirtsy she was – even more than before now, especially after all that running. The porygon floated closer and nuzzled his trainer in a reassuring way. "I know. We'll never be separated again, okay?"

Neon nodded as Flint wandered back in holding a large bag with a red cross on it. He started work immediately, pulling out glass shards and wrapping the wounds in bandages.

"Thanks, Flint," Anna said with a small smile. Ouch. "How did you know…?"

"Where you were?" Flint finished for her as he pulled a particularly large piece of glad from her leg. Anna let out a small whine. "The gym trainers hadn't heard anything, so I just came to check up on you. When I couldn't find you, I got worried, noticed some 'rocket scientists'" – he made little quotation marks with his hands as he said those two words – "I followed them and came to the reception area when an alarm rang. The receptionists ran off and I ran through the corridors looking for you."

"… Then how did you get to the other hallway?"

"While I was searching for you, I found your porygon. That's a fairly smart pokémon you've got there. He knew I was of good nature and I told him you were here. He zoomed off to find you straight away. I knew you'd be in good hands with him, so I went back to the lobby and waited for you."

"Oh. Ahh!" she squeaked as another shard of glass was ripped from her flesh. She looked at Neon. "I'm so proud of you! Thanks heaps!"

The virtual pokémon lifted his head in delight, and then flinched as his trainer sucked in a sharp breath – Flint had taken a one last shard out of her and was now applying an ointment. He looked up at the two.

"You two seem to be pretty close. You've only been together a day, at the most."

"I know. I don't get it, either. I think it's just… we get each other," Anna tried to explain. It was odd, and definitely fascinating that they were so closely bonded. She always thought that trainers grew close to their starters quicker than caught pokémon, but she never thought exactly how fast. Did it usually take longer? "Does it matter if we're close after only a little time of knowing each other?"

"If anything, it should benefit your training." Flint was now bandaging her lower leg. "Seeing a trainer and pokémon this close and having known each other so short… I'd say it gives you a major step up above most other trainers at your level."

"So do you reckon I'd be able to beat the Pewter City Gym Leader?" Anna questioned as absolute hope sparkled in her eyes.

Flint laughed and shook his head. "If you train some more. The Leader here's pretty tough, y'know."

"Oh," she looked down at her lap, disheartened. However, after a second, her head flicked back up and she grinned. "I'll get started first thing tomorrow!"

"With that kind of spirit, you'll be strong enough in no time!"

"But first, I'm gonna challenge the leader of the gym to see exactly how much training I need to do!"

"Oh. Okay. Prepare yourself, though."

Anna grinned as they stood. Her leg was feeling better already. However, it didn't stop her limp as she hobbled towards 'her' room. Halfway there, though, she stopped and turned to Flint, Neon almost crashed into her face.

"Wah!" she squeaked as her porygon floated half a metre to the left. "Um, Flint, would you mind if I get myself a drink of water? I'm really thirtsy."

"Sure, go for your life. By the way, your bed is also my daughter's, so you can't stay here for too long. She's been complaining."

"Oh, okay. Should I get a room at the Pokémon Center?" She searched the cupboards in the small, but extremely clean, white kitchen for a cup before filling it with water from a tap. She downed it in no more than six gulps and refilled.

"If you feel you should… you could always sleep on the couch."

"Not after Kaiden's drooled all over it," she giggled before throwing down another glass of water. "But thanks, anyway!"

"I'll call the Center right after I call the police station," the older man said as he strode to a video phone. "Kaiden's gonna have to go with you… unless he wants to sleep on the couch. My son's been protesting, too."

"Thanks, and that's fine."

* * *

**Short chapter, but I didn't expect it to be all that long, anyway. Hope you liked it.**


	7. Victor

Sleep, glorious sleep. Nothing better to sooth sore muscles than a nice, long rest. Just over fourteen hours ago, Anna was running, crashing, falling, being stabbed, flying, crying, being covered in mud, then running again, all with large parts of glass window sticking out of her body. Then a few hours later, she was falling onto her Pokémon Center bed with a groan. It took only seconds for her to fall into a land of pleasant dreams. She was undisturbed by nightmares, unlike before, and was completely and utterly content.

… Until she fell of the bed.

"Ack-!" _Fwump_.

Her eyes shot open. "Wow, I didn't realize how clean this carpet was."

Well, wasn't this an awkward position. Her face was planted in the flooring and her body was sitting vertically against the side of her bed. Her feet were hanging idly over her head and her arms were twisted to odd angles. After a moment, she wriggled and fell down to the side.

Today was the day. Her first _ever_ gym battle. Not that she knew she was going to win. She was fairly certain she was going to lose, actually. But, it didn't faze her. She was using this battle as a way of testing Neon and her own strength together. The amount of training she and Neon needed to do all depended on this battle. As the girl got up, she scanned the room for her travel buddy, wondering if he was going to battle the gym leader today, too. She didn't predict it, but she wasn't surprised that Kaiden was still asleep. Still half asleep herself, Anna shuffled to the snoring, drooling lump of testosterone. Seriously, how was a girl supposed to marry something like that? It was hideous!

She guessed, however, that there were some cute ones in the world. The guy with the pikachu she saw on her first day… he was okay. He looked a little dorky, though.

Anna shook her head. No, this wasn't the time to do that. She had to wake her 'lump of testosterone' up! She sat on his bed, causing him to roll onto his side, facing her. With an inquisitive look, she poked the boy in the stomach. He grunted and squirmed, but didn't wake up. She poked him again, this time on his face. Ew, it was greasy – did he even shower last night? The boy groaned and rolled over. Anna shook him.

"Kaaiiideen!"

He grunted a "Whut?" and rolled back over, blue eyes bleary and black hair sticking up in different directions.

"Time to get…!" Anna said, standing up and yanking the covers off the boy, "uuuuu-uuuup-_AAHH_! YOU'RE NAKED!"

The boy was lying in his bed, wearing nothing but a pair of pokéball-patterned briefs. As soon as Kaiden comprehended this, his entire body curled up into a foetal position, his arms in between in legs, hiding the space in between.

"STOP STARING!"

"I'M NOT STARING!" Anna covered her eyes and ran off into the bathroom. That was the most disturbing thing she'd seen in her life. Didn't he have _pyjamas_?! She shuddered and locked the door behind her. Crazy.

She stared at her wisp-haired figure in the mirror. Her jaw was still dropped in shock, but was quickly lifted into position with a snigger. Time for a shower.

* * *

It took a while finding it, but they were here. A large building made completely out of large boulders. Wow. It looked like a cave. Anna tilted her head as she read the sign saying "PEWTER GYM" over the front door. It looked quite intimidating, that was for sure. Nonetheless, the two entered. Kaiden grinned.

"I'll battle the leader first," he said. Anna had no quarrels with that. She was slightly nervous and besides, she'd get a picture of the leader's battle style before facing whoever it was herself.

They entered in silence. Although everything was completely black, the air smelt like dirt and minerals. After about eight seconds of wary walking and stumbling, a spotlight flicked on. The light from here very poorly lit the rest of the arena, which was decorated with large rocks and boulders. However, the children's minds were not fixed on this. They were locked on what was shown in the spotlight. A muscly man with dark eyes, brown hair and rough clothes sat cross-legged in the center of the circle.

The man stood and folded his arms as the rest of the gym's lights flicked on. He strolled slowly towards the two, a pokéball in his hand. And the two thought _they_ could be dramatic.

"Flint?" Kaiden asked instantaneously, his right brow climbing his forehead.

"Surprise," the gym leader chuckled. "Yes, I am Flint, the Pewter City Gym Leader. I'm known for my rock-hard pokémon, as powerful as they are durable, and for issuing the Boulder Badge to those who surpass me." He stood tall, looking extremely mighty. "Enough formalities, though. We know enough about each other. Who's first?"

"I am," said Kaiden, stepping forward. "I wish to battle you for the boulder badge, Flint."

"I said enough formalities, but okay. This will be a two-on-two battle. If you don't have a second pokémon, either borrow one, or try getting though barrage of boulders with only one."

"I'm good to go."

What?! Good to go?! He only had one pokémon! And even with its type advantage, Flint's pokémon were probably _way_ tougher! Was there something wrong with this kid?!

Anna stayed quiet, though, and headed towards the stands on the left. She hadn't expected it, but about eight children of varying ages sat in a row beside her. Along with that, several other trainers had come to witness and possibly some researchers. A ninth kid, who was a little older than the others, stood at the sides of the arena holding a red and green flag. He began to declare match rules, regulations and other information, holding up the flags and waving them towards whatever he was babbling about.

"… Let the battle begin!" the boy said, waving the flags downwards where he kept them at his sides.

Flint stood where he first appeared with his pokéball. "First, I'll use Geodude! Go!" He threw the pokéball, which burst open. From it appeared the same, floating rock pokémon from before. It flexed its stone muscles to the crowd, who cheered. Anna just laughed at it. Was that really necessary?

"Right," Kaiden yelled confidently. He threw his own pokéball. "I'll use Viktor!"

Anna was shocked. Viktor? How long had he had a Viktor?

The light faded to reveal a small, purple pokémon with large ears. Somewhere along the road, Kaiden had caught a male nidoran. Anna guessed this was the same poison point pokémon that he was battling with Fab just before Carmen had appeared.

"Viktor, use Focus Energy!" Kaiden called. The nidoran stood still, eyes closed. He seemed to be sensing his surroundings and building his own power up for the next few attacks.

"Geodude, hit 'em with Rock Throw!" Flint ordered calmly. Geodude drifted swiftly to the ground, picked up a large rock and flung it at his opponent. Sensing this, Viktor leapt up and kicked himself off the rock towards the geodude as Kaiden called for a Double Kick attack. As he got closer, Viktor swerved around and planed his tiny back feet into the rock-type's face. Geodude was knocked back several feet, but regained momentum quickly.

"Oh, you're good," Flint complimented justly. "But watch out for this. Geodude, use your Rock Tomb attack!"

Geodude grabbed several large rocks and threw them into a circle around the little poison-type, blocking it from reaching him. Viktor simply jumped onto the rock in front of himself, hurt. Some of the rocks must have hit him.

"Now, while he's revealed, use another Rock Throw!" Flint commanded. Again, Geodude lifted several small rocks and tossed them offensively at Viktor, who was unable to move fast enough and was smacked backwards into the Tomb.

"Viktor! Ack! Get back up!" Kaiden called. Poor thing seemed to be freaking out a little. The little pokémon leapt up and readied himself for the next command. "Good boy! Use your Double Kick attack once more!"

"Nii!" Viktor cried as he dashed forward over the rocky wall and leapt, spinning around in he same manner as he did with the last attack.

"Defense curl!"

Geodude swung his arms up in front of his face, closing his eyes. The kicks struck hard, and after a few seconds of floating side to side, he redeemed himself. Even with the raised defence, a rock-type pokémon was still weak against a fighting-type attack.

Still, both pokémon survived, standing strong in front of their respective trainers. Flint called for a tackle attack and the rock pokémon obliged, swooping forward to crash into the poison point pokémon.

"While he's close, hit him with your Poison Sting attack!"

Viktor was hit hard by Geodude's attack, but on his way down, the poison-type stick the small horn, which glowed a bright purple, into his opponent's forehead. Caught off-guard, the rock-type floated back and shuddered as the poison infiltrated his system. He coughed and wheezed, but continued to float. He was becoming exhausted. Viktor, however, seemed like he could keep fighting all day.

"Hm," Flint was getting frustrated now. Kaiden was a lot stronger than Anna had originally thought. "Geodude, use one more rock throw, try to weaken him as much as you can!" It was obvious that Flint knew he was going to lose this first battle. Geodude slowly dipped and grabbed a handful of rocks and dirt and feebly lobbed them. He was able to keep his eyes open to see his attempt fail by two feet before fainting to the ground with a thud that kicked dirt up underneath him.

Calling Geodude back, Flint grabbed his second pokéball. "Okay. This won't be as easy. Try matching up to Rhyhorn!"

The pokéball was thrown and from the light appeared a large, stone pokémon that stood on all-fours and had a large horn sticking out of the end of its head. It grunted and kicked its feet in the dirt as Kaiden scanned it with his pokédex.

"Alright," Flint said, a confident grin emerging once more. "Hit me with your best shot, then."

"Wait!" one of the kids next to Anna called, pointing to Viktor. "It's glowing!"

Indeed, the little purple pokémon was glowing a bright white, shaking, his eyes clenched shut. His form began to mutate. It grew and shrunk in various parts, but this calmed down after a few moments, and the light faded to reveal a much larger nidoran. Whoa. Not only did Kaiden catch the nidoran, he must have trained it, too. Most probably while she was asleep for those three days. He'd trained it enough to evolve into a nidorino.

"Just what I was hoping for!" Kaiden said. So he had planned this? "Alright, Viktor, use your Double Kick attack!"

With evolution comes amplified strength. Now that Viktor was a nidorino, he was a lot stronger than he was previously. He was also a lot faster, which was evident as the Poison Pin pokémon shot forward before skidding, turning his back and kicking the Rhyhorn in the side. But it did nothing...

Flint smiled. "It's all good, you did hurt him, but not as much as he is about to hurt you. Rhyhorn, use Horn Attack, quick!"

With a lot more speed than anyone had given the large rock-type credit for, Rhyhorn swung his head briskly and jabbed his large horn into Viktor's side. Viktor grunted and whined before Flint order one last attack – Stomp. Rhyhorn then lifted the front part of his body and brought his feet down onto the nidorino, crushing it into the ground. Viktor was instantly unable to battle and was called back by his trainer.

"Damn," the boy muttered, taking Fab's pokéball into his hand. "Alright, time to show 'em what you got, Fab!"

The ball burst and from the light, the squirtle with the diva glasses appeared, striking a funny pose with a loud, "Thquiiiiirt!" He then shifted into a normal defensive stance, staring down the other pokémon like the spikes pokémon being more than twice the size of the tiny turtle pokémon did not matter.

"Alright, Fab, let's start this off with a water gun attack!"

Fab leapt up into the air, where he shot a jet of water hurtling at Rhyhorn, who dodged at his master's command and flicked a series of large boulders upwards towards the airborne squirtle – another Rock Tomb. The first boulder hit Fab and sent him flying back down to the ground. The others fell down around him, creating a much larger wall than Geodude did. Fab tried to get out, but he was too small and his legs were too weak.

"Alright, Rhyhorn, use Fury Attack on the rocks!" Flint ordered. Rhyhorn bolted towards the boulders, his horn hitting one and sending it flying towards Fab.

Kaiden smacked his hands over his eyes. This was horrible – all of a sudden he was losing! He needed to think quickly. "Withdraw! Water Gun!"

At the sound of his master's words, Fab retreated into his shell and began shooting water from each of its holes. The force of the water caused the shell to spin, and the strength of the attack seemed to slow the smaller boulders. Being inside his shell negated most effects to hurt the squirtle, so the plan was almost perfect. And along with all this, the water that didn't hit the boulders being barged at Fab landed on the Rhyhorn, weakening it severely.

This kept up for a few minutes, until Rhyhorn ran out of boulders to bash. Fan finally came out of his shell and shot another Water Gun at the rock-type, who was hit square in the face, but continued to stay up and ready. This was beginning to get boring. Flint called for another Horn Attack, and Rhyhorn obeyed, charging blindly towards Fab, who was struck fair in the chest and flown way back to Kaiden's feet.

Kaiden muttered something that wasn't audible to anyone in the stands, but Annalyn guessed that he was asking his pokémon if he was still willing to fight. Fab nodded and staggered tiredly back up so that he was standing. Rhyhorn began charging again, but missed as Fab leapt directly upwards and landed on his back. The spikes pokémon ran straight into a particularly enormous boulder, which fell down onto Rhyhorn's back, narrowly missing Fab, who was holding onto the rocky hide.

"Hang on there, Fab!" Kaiden called, formulating one last plan. Soon the Rhyhorn would become irritated and attempt to buck him off. As rhyhorn were generally really stupid, this irritation would blind him to anything else, which included both his surroundings and what Fab himself was doing whilst clinging to his back.

The plan was beginning to work. Flint yelled orders to his rhyhorn, but the pokémon continued to buck, throwing its body everywhere, smashing into rocks everywhere. At some points, the rhyhorn came exceedingly close to the stands where Anna and the others sat, but was soon steered away. Every crash caused damage to the spikes pokémon and Fab, only it was much more minor in the tiny turtle's case, as he was being flung out of the way.

Rhyhorn soon became weary and slowed down to a light jolt every now and then. This was when Fab fell off. Flint already started clapping as Kaiden called, "Now, let's finish this!" and one last Water Gun was shot. Rhyhorn roared and fell to its side before closing its fatigued eyes.

"Rhyhorn is unable to battle!" the referee child yelled, holding the red flag out to the fallen pokémon and the green towards Kaiden. The boy appeared shocked at his father's opponent's victory. "Kaiden wins the match and the Boulder Badge!"

Applause filled the stands and Anna stood, slapping her hands together and grinning broadly. That was one tough battle, and Anna knew she wouldn't stand a chance against the Rhyhorn's strength just yet. She didn't even have to face Flint to know that he was extremely tough, so with this thought, she decided she would train Neon to a very high level first, and then try to defeat Flint. And the best place to do what would be in the Viridian Forest. Maybe she could catch a pokémon as well, like Kaiden did!


	8. Issues

**Hey, anyone wanna submit an OC they want to travel with Anna? I have an idea…**

**He/she'll aid her through Mount Moon and stuff. Maybe more.**

* * *

"Will you stop flashing that thing around _everywhere_?" Anna growled as she stormed in front of her companion on their way down to the Viridian Forest. The boy had been showing off his new boulder badge to everyone they came across and it was getting on the girl's nerves.

"I've only shown it to you…" He was about to start counting off a reasonably small list that was only a fraction of the real amount of people he had really shown. As he opened his mouth to continue, he pinned his badge back onto the bandana on his head, but was cut short. Annalyn had spun around suddenly, sheer irritation radiating from her face. Her forefinger jabbed into Kaiden's chest.

"Me, your pokémon, Neon, those kids at the gym, those students at the gym, officer Jenny, that crowd of people outside the museum, the two kids on the street, the trainers in the PokéMart, the PokéMart Keeper, Nurse Joy, the Pokémon Center chansey, the jigglypuff that was also in the Pokémon Center, that guy that was spraying repellent on his plants, the guy who couldn't control the nidoran he got traded to him, that homeless man who was feeding the pidgey back there, not to mention me again _several_ times in between!"

"You're just jealo—"

"_Jealous_?" she spat, spinning back around. "Yes. Yes, I am. I'm not denying it. But I'm also getting annoyed with your showing off. Okay, you beat some guy, whatever."

"Everyone else seemed impressed by it…"

"Just shut up." They were now entering the thick wood, though no pokémon were deciding to appear yet. "Why aren't you going on to Cerulean, anyway? I'm sure you don't want to be dragged down by me."

"I want to stay with you," Kaiden muttered, going slightly pink. "Even if you're snappy –"

Anna inhaled furiously. What did he say?! WHAT DID HE SAY?!

"— I mean happy! Happy! Argh, I've totally messed this up."

"Yes, Kaiden, _yes you did_," Anna growled. She couldn't turn around. She was afraid that if she did, she would snap his neck. Why was she getting so infuriated anyway? After she spoke, she began to walk much faster, almost running, away from the boy. She could do this without him. He could do it without her. Muttering, "Screw him," and various other remarks, she found herself walking deeper and deeper into the forest, until she came to a small clearing, where she stopped and thought about what she had done.

Anna swore she had issues. She had just snapped at Kaiden for no reason. He was excited that he had won his first ever gym battle – who wouldn't have gone on a pride rampage like that? And Anna had to go and ruin it for him by having a psych at him for winning. What was with her? She literally smacked herself in the face for being so stupid and was about to turn around and run back to him when there was a rustle in the bushes before her. This was too much like a movie. Boy frustrates girl, girl runs away, girl gets into trouble. Typical, yes, but it didn't stop the sudden ominous atmosphere. Whatever was in those bushes was sure to be dangerous. Or was she overreacting?

Two large, pink ears appeared from the top of the bushes, and a long, pink tail came up next, whipping from side to side. Then, the rest of the body floated into view, and for a split second, a glowing, pink cat-like pokémon was floating in front of her. It then flew off into the sky, where it disappeared, camouflaging to the blue like a staryu on sand. She had never seen anything like it before – wait, that was wrong. She had seen it once. An entire day ago, in the Rocket Base under the museum, a large picture of a feline pokémon was carved into the wooden doors to the room she and Kaiden had found Fab in. Was this the same pokémon? If it was, Annalyn had just seen a pokémon of legends. How exciting.

Still freaked out by what the legendary cat pokémon _could_ have been, the girl jolted as a hand fell onto her shoulder. She immediately calmed down, though, when she saw it was a human hand and turned. She had expected Kaiden to be smiling back at her, but instead, found a short boy with short, black hair, short shorts, a funny hat, a funny bag and a butterfly net. Anna gasped as the boy spoke.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" he asked, eyes shining an odd shade of green.

Annalyn shook her head and released her breath. "I'm fine. You just shocked me, that's all." She paused and let her brows come together. "Who are you?"

"The name's Ivan," the boy muttered, poking a thumb at himself, "and I'm aiming to be the world's greatest bug trainer!"

"… _Bug trainer_?" Anna repeated. The boy nodded.

"Yep! And to do that, I have to battle other trainers, like you!" He grinned and took three pokéballs from his bag. "I challenge you!"

"Oh. Well," she said, scratching the side of her head. "I guess I accept. One on one?"

"Oh, I have three pokémon, though. Who should I choose?" Ivan turned and began staring at his pokéballs in thought. Anna wandered to the other side of the clearing, taking Neon's pokéball. Before she turned back to face her opponent, however, she noticed something pale glistening on a leaf. It was odd, but when she turned her sight back to it, she realized there was actually a tiny lock of translucent pink hair. Only the pokémon upstairs knew how she had noticed something so minuscule. Shrugging, she pinched the hairs between her thumb and forefinger and lifted them to her eyes for examination. They must have come from that cat pokémon from before. She knew this had to be shown to Professor Oak, but it was impossible to put them anywhere they wouldn't get lost, so she shoved them in a small bag in her pocket anyway.

"Alright, I've chosen!" Ivan said from the other side of the clearing. "Let's get this going. Go, venonat!"

Anna turned back to face the boy as he threw the pokéball, which burst and caused a large, hairy, purple bug to appear. Its large, red eyes stared up at the girl as she threw her own pokéball, calling Neon's name. The ball hit the ground and from the light, the pink and blue duck-like pokémon appeared, floating weirdly at the venonat's level.

"Wow! Looks like we're gunna have to work real hard to beat this one, Venonat!" Ivan called, causing venonat to put on a determined demeanour and move into a defensive position. Neon floated a little higher. "Alright, let's start this off with Supersonic!"

"Veno – nat!" the insect pokémon cried, sending a series of soundwaves towards its opponent. At Anna's call, Neon attempted to float above the waves, or at least block them out. He failed, however, and became confused.

"Damn! Well," Annalyn muttered, searching around for an idea. "Uhh… use… tackle?"

Neon attempted to fly forward and slam into Venonat, but instead began zooming off sideways, slamming into a tree. Shaking it off, he floated back into the middle of the clearing and prepared to attack again.

"Venonat, use Confusion!"

The purple pokémon jumped forward and began to glow a bluey-purple colour. This same aura also surrounded Neon and the virtual pokémon began to shake roughly up and down into the ground, back into the sky, and then back into the ground again. The attack soon ceased and Neon was left dizzy.

"Damn it," Anna growled, "use that funny beam attack, Neon!"

Neon shook his head out of its confusion and looked determinedly as the purple-blue aura re-appeared. Ivan's eyes became tennis balls as the blue ball of psychic energy charged up.

"It's a Psybeam! Venonat, dodge it and use disable!"

So that's what the beam was called – _Psybeam_! Venonat attempted to jump out of the beam's way, but was a too slow and was hit critically. The insect pokémon was blown into a tree, from which it fell to the ground. It staggered weakly back up. That attack must have been super effective. Nonetheless, the pokémon's eyes began to glow, this time a pale blue, which surrounded Neon. As the bug-type's eyes faded, the glow did, too, but remained faintly outlining the normal-type.

He was no longer able to use his psybeam attack. Oh, well.

"Too bad your venonat is struggling," Anna said, folding her arms. She felt fairly powerful right now. "I think with another tackle, this might end."

"Damn! Well, weaken it as much as you can, then!" Ivan commanded. "Use your confusion attack again!"

Once more, Venonat and Neon both glowed a blue hue and the latter pokémon shook hysterically. When the attack stopped, Neon was left floating dizzily in various directions. Anna called for a tackle attack, but the virtual pokémon just fell. It hadn't fainted, it just fell. The Confusion attack had confused him. Great.

"Alright, now, use Tackle!" Ivan called. Venonat pounced at Neon, tackling it into the ground, weakening it further. "And another confusion!" The blue returned and the shaking commenced.

"Come on!" Anna yelled, frustrated. "Snap out of it and use tackle!"

Neon did exactly that, even though in his confused mind, her words were a jumble of gibberish. However, when he flicked to life, the venonat's next tackle was dodged and the virtual pokémon zoomed around, u-turning and crashing into the bug-type. With a cry, the insect pokémon landed upside down, defeated. The two trainers blinked once each before falling and jumping as they realised their outcome in the battle.

It was now that Anna noticed three or four pokémon observing. A rather small pidgey up on a thin tree branch behind Ivan next to a larger pidgey that made the branch bend, a curious weedle with its head tilted, looking kind-of admiringly at Neon and a small, yellow pokémon with a thunderbolt tail and red cheeks. Its ears twitched as the girl saw it – Anna's eyes grew.

"Oh, _cutie_!" she squealed, turning to Ivan. "You wouldn't have a spare pokéball, would you? I've got none and I wanna catch that pikachu, look how cuu-uu-_ute_ it is!"

The boy shook his head and handed out his butterfly catcher, but by this time, the girl had turned back to the pikachu.

"Argh! I want it. Where's Kaiden?!"

"Here."

The girl spun around, excitement pooling in her eyes, to find her dark-haired friend. "Kaiden! Where'd you come from? Wait, that doesn't matter right now! Quick pass me a pokéball! I want to catch that pikachu!"

"You might want to weaken it first," Kaiden advised, shifting his weight and taking an empty pokéball from his bag. He threw the pokéball to the girl. "I knew you didn't have any money, so I bought extra."

"Right," she said, catching the ball in her right hand and pointing at the pikachu with her left. "Neon, let's use psybeam attack!"

That familiar glow appeared around Neon and the familiar psychic energy ball began to form at his beak. The attack shot, but just before hitting, the pikachu zipped off up a tree. Anna ordered her porygon to follow it. The virtual pokémon flicked his beam left and right, attempting to hit the electric mouse pokémon, but the pikachu would leap out of the way at every sign of danger.

"Neon's running out of power; make him use a different attack!"

Kaiden was right. Neon was beginning to look more and more tired by the flick of his head. His beam became slower and it was now as simple as a step and a jump for the pikachu to dodge. The psybeam came to an end and the pikachu squeaked happily before sending a thundershock towards Neon, who was hit head-on and was weakened further, emitting crackling electricity from every part of his body.

"Come on, we can do this!" Anna cried desperately. "Use Conversion 2, then tackle him!"

Neon began to glow a bright white, which faded to reveal an earthy porygon. Perfect! Earth types were totally unaffected by electric-type attacks! Nice choice, Neon! The virtual pokémon then crashed into the gob smacked mouse, slamming it into the trunk of a thick tree. A weedle and metapod fell from the branches above and the pikachi squeaked, eyes swirling.

"Alright! We've weakened it! Now," she said with a lowered tone before raising her volume as she threw Kaiden's pokéball, "go, pokéball!"

As soon as the smooth surface of the pokéball left her hands, the whole world slowed down. This would be her first capture ever. Ever. And as the red and white orb spun through the air, the girl hoped to anyone out there that the pikachu would stay inside the ball. The closer the ball got to the pikachu, the slower time would move. Anna was getting impatient.

And then… the pokéball _missed_.

However, as time sped back up, the pokéball landed behind a shrub and burst open. A pokémon squealed and was sucked inside by the light. Pikachu scampered off as Anna ran to find what she had accidentally caught. The pokéball wobbled, the white button glowed, and time was stopping again. One shake, two shakes, three shakes, four… and the pokéball clicked and went still. Annalyn immediately picked the pokéball up and spun around joyfully.

"Alright! I caught –" she stopped and blinked. What did she catch, exactly? "I caught whatever this is!" She pressed the previously-glowing button on the pokéball and in a burst of light her new pokémon appeared in front of her.

Every jaw dropped as Anna's new caterpie confoundedly stared up at her new trainer.

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**Solike, not completely fond of this chapter, but I love where it's going :'DDD You'll see soon. Please keep reviewing! And OCs are accepted now because I don't think I'll be able to make them up myself. I do have standards, though, so I probably wont use everything if I think they'd be annoying, so...  
**


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